In a world where demographics, economic needs and the effects of climate change were set to spur rising numbers of migrants, Governments and intergovernmental organizations needed to invest adequate financial and human resources to ensure that societies — and migrants themselves — reaped migration’s full potential, Michele Klein-Solomon, Observer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to the United Nations, said today.

“Migration is here to stay […] and is set to increase,” Ms. Klein-Solomon said at a Headquarters press conference to launch IOM’s flagship publication, World Migration Report (WMR) 2010: The Future of Migration: Building Capacities for Change. “The challenge for the future will be in how to manage it.” She noted that the launch was taking place just ahead of the 18 December commemoration of International Migrants Day.

She said the report identified key migration dynamics and trends, citing, among other main drivers, declining population rates in industrialized countries coupled with stagnant job growth in the developing world; income disparities; poverty and conflict; and globalization. She said that since most Governments today lacked the capacity to deal with the long-term challenges posed by increasingly complex migration issues, the report identified six main policy areas likely to undergo great changes due to developments in migration, as well as 10 ways within each policy area by which Governments could build their capacities.